Indiscipline

I suppose the song "Indiscipline" is meant to be a bit of a mystery, applying to whatever it is in your life that distracts you or obsesses you. But lyricist Adrian Belew reportedly has 'fessed up to its true meaning: It was about a painting done by his wife, Margaret. He would stare at it for hours and hours ...

It's a good song but a little bit problematic live, as audiences have taken to shouting out the lines before Adrian gets to them. And when he says, "...to see if I still liked it," the crowd starts screaming, "Did you still like it?!? Did you like it???!!" Kind of wrecks what's supposed to be a pregnant pause. No matter -- it's all forgotten by the time they get to the awesome screech-halt ending.

It's a spoken-word song featuring Adrian's calmly crazed narration interspersed with aggresive, slow guitar parts. Live versions start with a long and badass drum solo by Bill Bruford; if you don't know what people mean when they say he's got a distinctive snare sound, you might after hearing this song. The live version I'm thinking of is commercially available on King Crimson's Absent Lovers 2-CD set.